I'm avoiding certain individuals online, mostly because talking to them drives me crazy (this does not pertain to anyone on my friends list). Over months of chitchat and discussion, I've found that I get annoyed by their persistent aura of negativity. No matter what they may have going for them in their lives, all they can see is the darkness and the woe - months in and months out of complaining about this or that, and it gets on my nerves. I've never heard a happy thing out of their mouths. I can't respond to that stuff, and I can't make it better. It never ends, and it's insane. x_x

Spoilers included, so tread warily if you have not yet seen "The Devil of Vengence: Shishio Makoto's Plot," if memory serves correctly.

Anime fans have been dogfighting over Toonami ever since it appeared on the scene with DBZ, and especially since it created a dramatic increase in the number of people who classified themselves as "anime fans." I'm not going to argue for or against anime on Toonami. Though I don't always agree with their selections or editing processes, I support Toonami and their cause, and I want to increase the anime audience. No matter what we do now: anime is there, and you or I cannot change that fact. So, I'm going to make the best of it - or just not watch it.

Since I went to college for the first time in 2001, I haven't been following Toonami as closely as I once did. Toonami wasn't available at school, and over time I just got out of the habit and felt an increased revulsion towards advertising techniques on television in general. So I was pretty surprised as I was channel-surfing to find that there would be "new" episodes of Rurouni Kenshin shown! I was even more amazed to see that it was the second episode of the Kyoto Arc, something I had not really expected to get past the censors.

In the end, I'm both happy and somewhat annoyed that this, my favorite part of Rurouni Kenshin, made it onto Toonami. Given the extreme brutality in some of the arc (and damned deep messages!), it may have been far better suited for Adult Swim. But here it is, so. My major complaint is that the English script sounds extremely stilted in places, very awkward. Edits I should have been expecting but wasn't also bugged me a bit, but I can see why they were cut out.

Edits I caught:

Most of Kenshin's blood from his "deep chest wound" (except for two scenes, one shot from the back in which the blood nearly blended into his kimono, and when Kaoru hugged him)

Saitou getting hit in the back of the head with the sakabatou when Kenshin finally counters the Gatotsu

Saitou spitting out his tooth (come on, that was a GREAT moment! XP)

The moment of impact when Kenshin deflects Saitou's blade with the back of his hand

Kenshin coughing up blood after getting the bejeezus punched out of him